Method of



('No Model.)

0. L. CURTIS.

METHOD OF APPLYING WIRE CORK RBTAINERS T0 BOTTLES. No. 445,803; PatentedFeb; 3, 1891.

I'NVENTORZ WITNESSESZ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES L. CURTIS, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO THE N. B. ABBO TT MACHINECOMPANY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

METHODjOF APPLYING WIRE CQRK-RETAINERS TO BOTTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,803, dated February3, 18911. Application filed September 17, 1890. Serial ll'o. 365,256.(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES L. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented certainImprovements in Methods of Applying Wire Retainers to Stoppers, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of wire retainers for stopperswherein the neck of the bottle is embraced by a wire band from whichthrecormore equidistantly-arrangedbranches extend up over the cork orstopper and are twisted together on the crown or top of the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and convenient mode ofapplying a retainer of this character, and to provide anequally-balanced, secure, and strong retainer, with a minimum quantityof wire.

I11 the drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is aview illustrating the manner of placing the three wires destined to formthe retainer about the neck of the bot tle; and Fig. 2 is a similarview, showing the said wires after they have been united by twisting.Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the retainer as it appears detached fromthe bottle; and Fig. 4 is a perspective View showing the stoppered endof a bottle with the wire retainer in place thereon. Fig. 5 illustratesa modification that will be hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 1, illustratin g the mode of wiring when but a singlewire is employed.

In carrying out my invention I take, by pref erence, three substantiallystraight pieces of wire a a a, of substantially equal length, and placethem about the neck b of the bottle, as seen in Fig. 1. The wires arethen twisted together at the three points where they intersect, formingthe three twists c c c, (seen in Fig. 2,) which represent the Wires asthey ap pear after these twists are formed. A wire band cl consisting ofa single strand now embraces the neck of the bottle below the fillet Z)thereon, and three radiating branches c c e are formed, each of whichconsists of two strands of wire. These branches 6 are 110w bent upwardover the fillet b and brought together over the crown or top of the corkas,

where they are twisted together, forming a twist f of six strands ofwire. This twist may be then bent down, as seen in Fig. 4, and embeddedin the cork; but this bending down of the twist f is not essential to myinvention.

It will be seen that my retainer, constructed and applied as described,comprises a band (Z composed of a single strand of wire extendingentirely around the neck of the bottle,-and three :snbstantiallyequidistant branches 6, each composed of two strands of wire twistedtogether at 0. Those branches extend up over the stopper and are unitedby the twist f. This construction provides a retainer that is equallybalanced, having the same quantity of wire in each branch, thus adaptingthem to be twisted together with facility, and each branch that passesover the cork has two strands, thus providing a strong retainer. Thestrands in the branches may be spread apart or separated a little, asseen in Fig. 4., thus providing six bearing-points on the stopper. I amenabled to use rather finer wire than that commonly employed, and this,besides effecting an economy, enables the twists to be made with greaterease and certainty. I prefer to use separate wires a, as shown in Figs.1 and 2, and to employ but three branches 6, as this will produce aperfectly-secure retainer for the stopper; but the retainer may beconstructed from a single piece of wire, and it may have more than threebranches, as rep resented in Fig. 5, where it will be seen that bends yare formed at the extremities of three of the branches, the twists 0being formed in the branches, as before described. This figure showsfour equidistant branches; but any other number of branches more thantwo may be formed from a single wire in the same manner. \Vhere a singlewire is employed, the lengths thereof will be placed about thebottleneck, and each two adjacent lengths be twisted together to formthe branch.

The peculiar characteristic of my method is that there is no preliminarytwisting of the wires before applying the retainer to the bot tle, allthe twists being formed after the wires or lengths of wire have beenplaced about the neck of the bottle, and this method is espe cially wellfitted to be carried out with ma- IOO chinerywhereby the several primarytwists a may be formed substantially simultaneously and by likemechanism.

Fig. 6 illustrates a mode of placing the single wire about thebottle-neck b, the lengths a in this figure corresponding to the wires ain Fig. l. The single wire of this figure is looped so as to formintersections or crossingpoints, at c,at which points the twists 0 willbe formed.

My retainer is adapted for use on other stoppered receptacles similar incharacter to hotties.

Having thus described my intention, I claim 1. Theherein-describedmethod of applying awire retainer to the stoppered end of a bot tle orthe like, whichconsists'in laying three or more wires orlengths of Wireabout the neck of the bottle and then twisting each two adjacent wiresor lengths together at c in a manner to close the wires upon thebottle-neck and form a band (Z thereabout, having branches 6 projectingtherefrom, substantially as set forth.

2. Theherein-d'escribedrmethodroEapplying a wire retainer to thestoppered' end of a bottle or the like, which consists in first placingthree or more substantially straight wires or lengths of wire againstthe bottle-neck and tangent thereto, in such a manner that they crossorintersect each other, then simultaneously twisting together each twowires or lengths of wire at the points where they intersect, thusforming the hand d and branches 6, then bending saidbranches up over thestopper until they meet on the crown of the same, and then uniting allthe Wires of all the branches into a single twist, substantially as setforth;

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

CHARLES- L. CURTIS.

Witnesses:

HENRY OoNNET'r, J. D. CAPLINGER.

